“This is our eighth year running through Albany and each year the Marines come out and support us,” Duluth Police Department Lt. Bill Stevens, founder, OOV, said. “For the first time, we do not have Marines running on our team.

“As we make the 72-hour, 560-mile run from Duluth, Georgia, to the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, the Marines here provide us much needed motivation along the way,” he added.

Annually a group of police officers, firefighters and special operations forces members run from Atlanta to Tampa to honor a different branch of the armed forces and a wounded service member, Stevens said.

“This year we are honoring the Navy Seal Team 6 where 20 members were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, August 6, 2011,” he noted. “This was the biggest loss of life since U.S. military operations began there.”

Cpl. Cameron Perry, administrative specialist, Headquarters and Support Company East, MCLC, was one of the Marines who volunteered to join the group run.

“I volunteered because I have always wanted to be in special operations and felt this was a great way to give back and support their cause,” he said.

“It was very motivating to run with my fellow Marines and get together with them to support such a great cause,” Perry added.

According to its website, operationonevoice.org, Operation One Voice is a not-for-profit program designed by police officers, firefighters and community leaders to raise funds to help support the immediate needs of children and families of fallen and wounded Special Operations Forces.